Railroad-switch



UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

MANOAH MILES, OF RUSSELL, KANSAS.

RAILROAD-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Nov 345,440, dated July 13,1886.

Application filed September 25, 1885. Serial No. 178,155. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I. MANoAH Mines, of Russell, in the county of Russelland State of Kansas, have invented a new and Improved Railroad-Switch,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a new and improvedrailroad-switch which can be set and shifted automatically by the cars,the cars being provided with automatic devices for shifting the switch.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts anddetails, as will be fully described and set forth hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved railway-switch. Fig. 2 is aperspective view of part of the side of a car, showing the device foroperating the switch. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective View of the pocketfor the lockingf bolt.

A are the main-line rails, B the siding-rails, and Othe swinging switchrails or tongues resting on and connected with the sliding switchbar D,provided 'on its upper surface and at the ends with the pockets E E, forreceiving the locking-bolts F F. The bar D is provided at one end withthe upwardly-projecting pins G, which are located between the prongs oftwo forks, H H, formed on the ends of leversJ J, pivoted to swing in thehorizontal plane. The lever J has an arm, K, on which the bolt F ispivoted.

To prevent the locking-bolts F F from binding in the pockets inunlocking the switch, it is necessary that they be withdrawn from thepockets before the switch-bar is moved. To permit this, the fork of thelever J is to be of such a size that the lever will be moved asufficient distance to operate the said locking-b0] ts before the forkengages the .pin on the sliding switch-bar D. The levers J J have forkedends L L, into which prongs M M on the ends of levers N N pass, whichare pivoted to swing in the horizontal plane. The levers N N areprovided with bevel or angle pieces 0 O, projecting from their uppersurfaces. A lever, P, pivoted to swing in the horizontal W, in its side.

plane, has one end connected by a rod, Q, with the lever J, and on itsfarther end a fork, Q,

is formed, into which a prong, R, on the end of the lever It, passes.connected by a rod, R, with the lever N. The lever It also carries abevel or angle piece, I. A lever, S, pivoted to swing in thelongitudinal plane, has a bevel or angle piece, S, and is connected bythe rod T with the lever N. The boltFis pivoted on an arm, P, of thelever P. Pockets E are secured on the sleeper N, as shown.

On each side of the car a a vertically-sliding -shaft,b,is 1nounted,onthe lower end of which a roller, 0, is mounted. The upper end of theshaft is provided with a handle'arm, d. A forked piece, for receivingthe end of the arm at and holding the shaft b raised, projects from theroof of the car. One locking-bolt is always in a pocket, E, 'on thesleeper, and the other bolt, F, is in the pocket E on the switchbar. Thepocket E on the switch-bar opposite thatpocket E on the sleeper in whichthe bolt F is at all times is provided with a slit, The other pocket, E,on the sleeper adjacent to that pocket E on the switch-bar D is alsoprovided with a slit, W, the slits being of such size that the flattenedends of the bolts can pass through them.

The operation is as follows: As shown in the drawings,-theswitch-tongues are set to run a train on the siding-rails B. The car aruns in the direction of the arrow a, Fig. 1, and the disk 0, which islowered, strikes the bevel of angle 0 and moves the same in thedirection of the arrow b, Fig. 1, thereby moving that end of the lever Jacted upon by the lever N in the inverse direction of the arrow 1), andthe switch-bar D is moved in the direction of the arrow ,1), whereby theends of the tongues O are shifted from the ends of the siding-rails B,to register with the ends of the main-line rails A. At the same time therods N and J are moved, as they are acted upon by the switch-bar, andthe bars 1? and E are moved, as the bar P is connected with the bar J bythe rod Q. By the above-described movements of the bars J and P the boltF is with drawn from the pockets E and E, which registered before theswitch-bar was shifted, and the bolt F is passed into the pockets E andE, which register after the switch-bar has been shifted. The switch-baris thus unlocked au- I tomatically before it is shifted, and is lockedin place automatically after it has been shifted. \Vhen a train runs inthe direction of the arrow a and the switch is set for the main line,the angle-pieee S is in relatively the same position as that which theangle-piece O has in Fig. 1. The disk 0 on the other side of the carthen strikes the angle-piece S, whereby it and the lever N, connectedwith it,are moved in the inverse direction of the arrow 1). The adjacentends of levers J and N are moved in the direction of the arrow 1), andthe barD is moved in the inverse direction of the arrow 1), whereby thetongues Care shifted from the main-line rails to the siding-rails andare brought into the position shown in the drawlugs. In case the trainruns on the main line A in the inverse direction of the arrow a, and thespring-tongues are set as shown in the drawings-that is, so that theyregister with the siding-rails B-one disk, 0, strikes the anglepiece 0and moves the same and the bars N and R, connected by the rod R in thedirection of the arrow b, whereby the adjacent ends of the-bars N and Jare moved in the inverse direction of the arrow 1), and the switch-bar Dis moved in the direction of the arrow b, whereby the tongues areshifted to register with the main rails. In case a train runs on thesiding in the inverse direction of the arrow a and the switch-tonguesare set to reg ister with the mainline rails, one of the disks 0 strikesthe angle-piece I and moves the levers R and N, connected by the rod Rin the inverse direction of the arrow 1), whereby the adjacent ends ofthe levers N and J are moved in the direction of the arrow 1), and thetongues G are moved to register with the siding-rails. In all cases thecar adjusts the switch automatically, and it is almost impossible foramistake to be made. The pockets E and E must be slit in the manner setforth, so that the ends of the bolts can enter the other pocket beforethe pockets registerthat is, when the edge of the end piece of onepocket is against the opening of the other the bolt shoots forward andpasses through the slit, and when the switch-bar D completes its lateralmovement the end of the bolt will be in the pocket on the switch-bar andis then moved forward to the end of the pocket. As the slits \V do notextend the entire length of the sides of the pockets, the bolts andpockets will not be disengaged by a movement of the switch-bar in thedirection of its length, and the bolts can easily be withdrawn bymovement direct from the bars with which they are connected.

Having thus described myinvention, I claim as newand desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. In a railway-switch, the combination, with the mainrails, sidingrails, switchtongues, and a sliding bar, to which the saidtongues are connected, of a system of levers for operating the slidingbar, arranged outside and along the track, and sliding locking boltspivoted to laterally-projecting arms of said levers, and adapted to beoperated in advance of the sliding bar, substantially as herein shownand described.

2. In a railway-switch, the combination, with the main rails, thesiding-rails, switchtongues, and a sliding bar provided with pins at oneend, of pivoted levers having forked ends for receiving the pins of theswitch-bars, a series of levers engaging said levers, having forkedends, sliding locking-bolts, and intermediate mechanism for connectingthe sliding bolts to one of the said levers that engage the switch-bar,substantially as herein shown and described.

3. In a railroad switch, the combination, with a switch-bar, of pocketson the same, fixed pockets adjacent to the pockets on the switchbar,sliding bolts which can be passed through the pockets, the said pocketshaving slits in the sides through which the bolls can-enter,substantially as herein shown and described.

4;. In a railroad-switch, the combination, with the main and sidingrails and the swirging tongues, of the switch-bar, on which the tonguesare secured, levers pivoted to swing in the horizontal plane andoperated from the switch-bar, bolts pivoted on the arms of said levers,pockets on the sleeper adjacent to the switch'bar, and pockets on theswitch-bar, into which pockets the bolts are passed, and of a series oflevers connected with and operated by the above-mentioned levers,thelatter levers having angular lateral projections on their uppersurfaces, substantially as herein shown and described.

5. In a railway-switeh, the combination, with the main rails, thesiding-rails, switchtongues, and a sliding bar, to which theswitchtongues are connected, having pins G, of the levers J J, havingforked ends, the levers N N, the lever S, connected to the lever N, thelever B, connected to the lever N, the lever I, connected to the leverJ, the projections O O I S, the pockets E E, and the locking pivotedbolts F F, connected to the levers J and I, respectively, substantiallyas herein shown and described.

MANOAH MILES.

\Vitnesses:

NICHOLAS GERNON, HIRAM C. I'IIBBARI).

